Whether you’re a junior with one community service convo from Towering Traditions or an accomplished freshman with all 60 miraculously completed, convocations are a required portion of the Belmont experience.
Belmont announced The Office of the Associate Provost and Student Engagement and Leadership’s facelift in its convocation experience with the new titles of Christian Faith and Tradition, Community Service and Reflection, Creative and Performing Arts, Global Citizenship, Leadership, the Professions, Society and the Arts & Sciences, Wellness and Safety and College Life Jan 19. in an Office of Communications email.
This list from the Office of Communications email shows which new categories correspond to the old categories as students’ current credits are transferred accordingly. – Christian Faith and Tradition (adapted from Christian Faith Development) – Community, Service and Reflection (adapted from Community Service) – Creative and Performing Arts (adapted from Culture and Arts) – Global Citizenship, Leadership and Professions (adapted from Personal/Professional Growth) – Society and the Arts & Sciences (adapted from Academic Lecture) – Wellness, Safety and College Life (adapted from Elective)
For Belmont students, the change does not interfere with the number of hours needed for students to obtain.
The main purpose of the change was to provide more accurate labeling for the university’s growing convocation programming and Vision 2020 goals, said Dr. Beverly Schneller, the associate provost for academic affairs and co-chair of the convocation committee.
Information Technology Services is currently reassigning students’ convocations credits to fit into the appropriate categories, and students will not lose any current credits, said Schneller.
The Office of Academic Affairs and SELD spent six months collecting data about convocations to influence their decision-making. The offices then presented the category changes for review by faculty senate, senior leadership and the General Education Council, said Schneller.
“It is our hope that the new category titles and descriptions will better connect to the university’s mission, linkage to learning and its overall operational infrastructure,” said Amy Coles, director of Student Engagement & Leadership and co-chair on the convocation committee.
The committee decided to remove the elective portion and add the wellness category that fulfilled a more specific requirement according to the needs discovered from the inventory, said Coles.
“Also, with Lecture in the former category title Academic Lecture, it made it seem as if every program students went to under that category would be a lecture which is certainly not the case,” Coles said.
After speaking with students, Coles said students particularly had difficulty pinpointing the purpose of Elective and Academic Lecture, but the new categories give a more clear picture of what students and organizations can expect for programming.
By categorizing convocation with the future in mind, the university hopes this system will last for the next four to five years, said Schneller.
The infographic below includes the new convocation descriptions.
